March 2006

Report from the Court of Appeals

    Judge Janice B. Davidson, Chief Judge of the Colorado Court of Appeals, attended the February 4, 2006 meeting of the Litigation Section Council to discuss the current status of the Court of Appeals.  The following is a highlight of the information provided by Judge Davidson:
   
•    The number of cases filed in the COA has increased each year, with the cases becoming more complex in nature each year.  With respect to percentages, she estimates that the current COA docket is 40% criminal (having increase 70% over the past ten years), 30% civil, 15-20% domestic relations, and the remaining 10 – 15% being split primarily between unemployment compensation, workers compensation and juvenile cases.

•    Civil cases always have the lowest priority, which lead to delays in decisions.  The average time for a decision in a civil case is approximately 18 months from date of filing.  In the last eight years, the average time for decision after a case is at issue has risen from 170 days to 240 days. 

•    Over the past ten years criminal law cases have become more complicated in nature and issues in the civil and domestic relations cases have become tougher to resolve and more complex.

•    The Court of Appeals has been understaffed for many years, with the last expansion being in 1988, and the resulting caseload for COA judges has been tremendous.  Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey has presented a plan that seeks the addition of three additional judge panels to the Court of Appeals within five years.  If legislation to this effect is passed, it will provide funding for three additional COA judges and help remedy some of the staffing issues by July 2006.  She is optimistic that the legislation will be approved.

•    If the additional three panels are created, there will likely be some discussion about making the COA panels regional in nature.  However, Judge Davidson would prefer not to have regional panels due to such issues as lack of interaction, lack of collegiality and a change in manner in which panel are currently comprised and changed.   

•    COA judges circulate divisions every 4 months.  Judge Davison re-assigns judges to differing divisions in an effort to make sure that judges do not continually sit with the same 3-judge panel.

•    Staffing:  each COA judge has 1 full time law clerk, and some use an allocated secretarial position to add a part time attorney so they have closer to 1 ½ law clerks.   The COA also has a pool of staff attorneys, each having some expertise in differing areas of the law (examples being workers compensation, unemployment compensation, criminal, domestic relations, and governmental immunity).  Most assignments to pool attorneys are completely random. 

•    E-filing in the appellate courts has been stalled due to vendor-related problems and issues.  The COA is ready for e-filing, but the technical issues have not been worked out.
 
•    With respect to the issue of frivolous appeals, she stated that the standard to establish that an appeal is frivolous is extremely high.  

•    She believes that appellate specialists are very effective and is supportive of litigants retaining appellate counsel.     

Litigation “Boot Camp” For New Lawyers

    A committee of the Litigation Section Council worked with CLE staff to create a litigation basics seminar aimed at attorneys new to the litigation arena.  The program comes as a response to increasing disciplinary and judicial complaints about inexperienced attorneys engaging in unprofessional and/or inappropriate litigation practices.

    The program consists of ten morning sessions (each consisting of three hours of instruction) beginning on March 8, 2006.  The sessions are scheduled to take place every three to four weeks at the CBA-CLE classroom, and will cover a number of topics from the initial considerations of taking on a litigation case all the way to trial preparations. Each session is approved for 4 general CLE credits and .6 Ethics credits.  Attorneys may attend the entire ten-session program or register for individual sessions.

    The Litigation Section has given financial support to this program in order to make it more affordable to its members, particularly new attorneys.  Section members will pay only $59 for individual sessions or $399 for the entire series.  Take advantage of this great opportunity!

    A brochure for the seminar was mailed to Litigation Section members and is available on-line at http://www.cobar.org/calendar/eventdetail.cfm?EventID=LI030806L.


Volunteers Needed for Office of Attorney Regulation

The Supreme Court Office of Attorney Regulation is in constant need of lawyers willing to serve as practice monitors, practice auditors, inventory counsel (when a lawyer is disabled or dies inventory counsel assists in reviewing and returning files to clients, etc.). Serving in such a capacity is on a pro bono or reduced fee basis. If you are willing to serve please contact John Gleason, Regulation Counsel, at 303-866-6444 or via email at john.gleason@arc.state.co.us.



40th Anniversary Celebration of Judicial Merit Selection System

As you may know, 2006 marks the 40th anniversary of Colorado’s passage of a constitutional amendment adopting a system of merit selection for its judges.  This system removes judges from all forms of political activity, including holding political office, making campaign contributions, receiving campaign contributions, endorsing political candidates and participating in political campaigns.  It also assigns the responsibility of judicial selection to citizen nominating commissions, which forward nominees to the sitting governor for final selection.
Plans are proceeding for a year-long educational celebration of Colorado’s judicial merit selection system, to begin on May 1 when the Colorado Supreme Court holds oral arguments at Durango High School.  The celebration will continue statewide through April 30, 2007.
As litigators in Colorado state courts, we should mindful of the fact that the outcome in our cases does not depend on the amount of money donated to the campaign of the judge hearing our case.  If you have the opportunity, take time to participate in the celebration of this important anniversary in the months to come.  You can also help spread the word about this important issue when talking with your clients, family and friends.